Footrest support



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FOO'IREST SUPPORT Filed June 14. 196e 2 sheets-sheet 1 INVENTOR. JOSEP/v E. Kw4/usal kaw Sept B5, Wm

J. E. KINNEBREW n 3,52%??? FOOTREST SUPPORT Filed June 14, 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. .rasepf/ 5. ,mme-beauf United States Patent O 3,528,717 FOOTREST SUPPORT Joseph E. Kinnebrew, 7040 Weller Drive NW., Rockford, Mich. 49341 Filed June 14, 1968, Ser. No. 737,155 Int. Cl. A47b 83/00; A47c 9/12 U.S. Cl. S12-237 12 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE This disclosure relates to a combination desk and footrest support in which the footrest support has a collapsible supporting means which tits within a desk drawer so that the drawer can the closed with the footrest inside and which support permits the footrest to be raised to a suitable height when the drawer is open. Biasing means are provided to bias the footrest support upwardly when it is positioned within the drawer and latch means are provided for holding the footrest within the drawer when the support is collapsed.

This invention relates to a combination of a footrest within a desk drawer wherein the footrest can be positioned within the drawer such that the drawer can be closed when the footrest is not in use, and wherein a collapsible support means is provided for raising the footrest to a suitable position above the drawer for use.

The practice of putting ones feet up on a desk while at work has been accepted by many. Many executives have a great amount of reading matter which can fbe more cornfortably done while their feet are raised. Further, many doctors are requiring people to raise their feet for medi cal purposes such as for improved blood circulation and the like.

Many people put their feet on top of the desk or rest their feet on an open drawer. When the top of the desk is used, it is quite likely to Ibe marred by shoes. Further, a crude appearance is given by one with his feet on the desk. The drawers are not as comfortable as the desk top and also become marred. Occasionally, the desk top may be too high for resting ones feet. It would be more acceptable to put ones feet up if an ottoman or a footrest were provided with the desk.

The idea of employing a specific footrest on a desk has been suggested. Davis, 2,986,437 discloses a padded support which can be attached to an open upper desk drawer. Others who have suggested the idea of footrests in combination with desks are Pollard, 1,203,260; J enkins, 1,975,004; Wilkins, 3,244,398; and Timmerman, 3,306,692.

I have now discovered an improved desk and footrest combination wherein the footrest is positioned within a desk drawer and has a collapsible support so that it can be stored within the closed drawer when not in use and has means for raising the footrest out of the drawer for use at a proper height.

By various aspects of this invention one or more of the following, or other, objects can be obtained.

It is an object of this invention to provide a furniture construction in which an ottoman or footrest is integrally constructed into a desk.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a footrest for a desk which can be collapsed within a desk drawer so that the drawer can be closed when the ottoman is not in use and which can be raised to a desirable height for use.

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It is a further object of this invention to provide an ottoman or other suitable footrest in a desk in which the height of the ottoman or footrest is adjustable.

Other aspects, objects, and the several advantages of this invention are apparent to one skilled in the art from a study of this disclosure, the drawings, and the appended claims.

According to the invention, there is provided a footrest for positioning within a desk drawer. The footrest has means integral therewith for supporting the footrest above the top of the drawer into the proximity of the height of the upper desk surface. The supporting means are collapsible to permit the footrest to be positioned within the desk drawer so that the drawer can be closed with the footrest in the drawer whereby the footrest can be hidden from view when not in use.

Spring biasing means are provided to bias the footrest upwardly within the drawer when the supporting means are collapsed within the drawer and a latch means is provided to maintain the footrest collapsed within the drawer. Means are also provided to lock the footrest in at least one position a fixed distance above the drawer top.

The invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a desk having a footrest within a bottom drawer;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view similar to FIG. 1 showing the footrest or ottoman raised to a usable position;

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view taken along lines III-III of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a top plan view taken along lines IV-IV of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a side sectional view taken along lines V-V of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a side sectional View taken along lines VI-VI of FIG. 4.

Referring now to the drawings, there is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 a desk having a top surface and slidable drawers for 6 and 8. Positioned within the bottom drawer 8 is an ottoman 10 having a padded surface. The ottoman or padded surface can be raised to a desirable height through a supporting structure comprising an interlocking parallelogram 12.

For more details of the supporting mechanism, reference is made to FIGS. 3, 4, 5, and 6. The parallelogram structure comprises a set of two parallelogram extenders, each having members 12a, 12b, 12C, and 12d. Elements 12a and 12e are rotatably connected at one of their ends, and members 12b and 12d are rotatably connected at an end portion thereof. Members 12a and 12b are rotatably connected at a central portion. Members 12e and 12d are also rotatably connected at a central portion. The bottom end of member 12a is rotatably pinned on a shaft 26 which slides in slots 18 of side plates 1 6. The bottom end of member 12b is rotatably pinned at 14 to a flange which is fixed to the drawer bottom 34. Likewise plates 16 are fixed to the drawer bottom 34. The upper end of member 12e is slidably pinned in slot 24 of plate 22 which is attached to the bottom of the padded surface forming the top of ottoman 10. The upper end of members 12d are rotatably pinned at 20 to a ange which is rigidly attached to the bottom of the padded surface forming the top of ottoman 10.

A spring 30 is attached at one end to rod 26 and at the other end to a rear portion of sliding plate 28 through pin 32. Track plates 40 are rigidly attached to drawer bottom 34 and are positioned on either side of sliding plate 28 to provide a track in which the sliding plate 28 can slide. Pins 43 and 45 are attached to sliding plate 28 and are positioned within slots 42 and 44 respectively of plates 40 to restrict the sliding motion of sliding plate 28.

A latch bar 46 having an upwardly extending handle portion 48 is rotatably pinned at 47 to a flange which is xed to the drawer bottom 34. A spring 58 biases the latch bar 46 downwardly relative to the drawer bottom 34. 'Ihe latch bar 46 has locking slots 50, 52, 54, and 56 for receiving rod 26.

In operation, the ottoman will normally be stored within the desk drawer. In this position, the supporting parallelogram structure 12 will be collapsed so that the pins 25 are in the leftmost portion of slot 24 and the rod 26 is in the leftmost portion of slot 18 as viewed in FIG. 3. In this position, th'e rod 26 will draw plate 28 to the left until pins 43 and 45 are in the leftmost portion of slots 42 and 44. The plate 28 is so shaped so that when bar 26 is in the leftmost position of slot 18 of FIG. 3, the rod 26 will be spaced leftward or forwardly of the front end of sliding plate 28 thereby stretching spring 30'.

When the rod 26 is in the leftmost position of slot 18, it will rest in locking slot 50 of latch bar 46. When this condition is obtained, the ottoman will be positioned within the desk drawer so that the drawer can be closed with the ottoman inside hidden from view.

When it is desirable to use the ottoman, the drawer is opened and handle portion 48 of latch bar 46 is pulled upwardly slightly to release rod 26. Rod 26, biased by the tension of spring 30, will be drawn to the right as viewed in FIGS. 3, 4, 5, and 6 until bar 26 strikes the front end of sliding plate 28. At this point, the ottoman will be raised a few inches above the top of the desk drawer. In order to raise the ottoman to the proper height, the padded surface is then gripped and pulled upwardly. As the surface is pulled upwardly, the pins will slide to the right of slot 24 in plate 22 and rod 26 will slide to the right in slot 18 of plate 16. The movement of rod 26 to the right as seen in FIG. 3 will push the sliding plate 28 to the right as seen in FIG. 5. At the same time the rod 26 will move along latch bar 46 until it can be positioned in locking position slots 52, 54, or 56. These slots represent progressive heights which can be obtained by the padded surface. For example, if rod 26 were positioned in locking slot 52, then the ottoman padded surface would be positioned at a first distance above the desk drawer. This distance can be somewhat below the height of the top surface of the desk. The ottoman can be raised further so that the rod 26 is positioned in locking slot 54. In this position, then the ottoman will be positioned slightly higher relative to the rst distance above the drawer.

Similarly, if the ottoman is raised still further, the rod 26 will be moved to locking slot 56. The action of the spring 58 maintains the latch bar 46 biased against the rod 26 so that the rod will remain positioned in any given locking slot until the handle portion 48 is raised. The

locking slots 52, 54, and 56 have been provided with surfaces tapering to the right so that the raising of the ottoman can also dislodge the latch bar 46 from the locking slots 52, 54, and 56.

Whereas the invention has been described with reference to a particular embodiment, various modifications are possible within the scope of the invention. For example, in the broadest aspect, any supporting means which is collapsible and adapted to raise and lower the ottoman can be employed. Further, the foot support surface need not be padded although this is a desirable form of the invention. As a further modification, the attaching means such as plates 22 and 20 can be recessed within the padded surface of ottoman 10 in order to provide a more elegantly appearing ottoman.

As a still further modification the supporting structure can be attached at the bottom to a plate which is independent of the bottom of the desk drawer. In other words, a separate plate can be substituted for the drawer bOtOm 34 so that the ottoman can be sold as a unit for positioning in a desk drawer or in a similar space.

The embodiments of the invention in which an exclusive property or privilege is claimed are defined as follows.

1. In combination with a desk having at least one drawer positioned beneath an upper desk top surface, a footrest within said drawer, means integral with said footrest for supporting said footrest above the top of said drawer, said means being collapsible to permit said footrest to be positioned within said desk drawer so that said desk drawer can be closed with said footrest in said drawer whereby said footrest can be hidden from view when not in use.

2. The combination of claim 1 further comprising releasable latch means to hold said footrest within said drawer below the top edge thereof so that said drawer can be opened or closed without interference from said footrest, said latch means having a handle within said drawer in operative position when said footrestis collapsed within said drawer, whereby said latch can be easily released by said handle when said drawer is open.

3. The combination of claim 2 further comprising means to bias said footrest upwardly within said desk drawer such that when said latch means is released said footrest will spring upwardly above the top of said drawer for proper positioning of said footrest above said drawer.

4. The combination of claim 3 further comprising means to lock said footrest at a position a fixed distance above said drawer.

5. The combination of claim 3 further comprising means to lock said footrest at a plurality of fixed positions above said drawer.

6. The combination of claim 1 further comprising means to lock said supporting means such that said footrest is a fixed distance above said drawer.

7. The combination of claim 1 wherein said supporting member comprises a pair of parallelogram structures, each attached at the upper end portion to said footrest and at a bottom portion to a base support within said drawer, said parallelogram structures being so attached to said footrest and to said base support such that as the end members of said parallelogram structure moves horizontally towards each other, said parallelogram members lift said footrest vertically.

8. The combination of claim 9 wherein a bottom end member of each of said parallelogram structures is fixed to a rod member, a pair of parallel plates are xed on said base support, each of said plates having horizontal slots, said rod member is slidable in said slots to extend and contract said parallelogram structure, a plate member is slidably xed to said base support, said biasing means comprises a spring attached at one end to said member and at another end to said slidable plate, and means are further provided to limit the extent of movement of said plate such that when said footrest is positioned within said drawer, said rod member is spaced from said slidable plate and said spring biases said rod member towards said slidable plate.

9. The combination of claim 7 further comprises means biasing said ends towards each other at least when said footrest is positioned within said drawer.

10. The combination of claim 8 further comprising latch means to releasably maintain said rod member a fixed distance away from said slidable plate when said footrest is positioned within said drawer.

11. The combination of claim 10 wherein said latch means comprises a pivotable link member in contact with said rod having a plurality of rod engaging means along its length, each rod engaging means corresponding to a position of said footrest in or above said drawer.

12. An ottoman construction for use within a desk drawer comprising a footrest, a supporting plate, collapsible supporting means connecting said footrest with said supporting plate, said supporting means being adapted to raise and lower said footrest relative to said supporting plate; said footrest, supporting means, and supporting plate being adapted to t within a desk drawer at least 1,846,607 2/ 1932 Nicholas 108-36 when said supporting means is collapsed to a position 2,579,577 12/ 1951 Hill 108--145X with said footrest closest to said supporting plate; means 2,641,427 6/ 1953 Genebach 108-145 X biasing said footrest upwardly with respect to said sup- 2,902,349 9/ 1959 Lerner 10S- 147X porting plate at least when said supporting means is col- 5 3,244,389 4/ 1966 Wilkens 297--423 X lapsed; and releasable latch means to maintain said supporting means in collapsed position. CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner References Cited U.S. Cl. XR.

UNITED STATES PATENTS lo 297-439 1,381,837 6/1921 Hopaidaszka 108--10 

